Education

Curriculum

At our local church we have begun a group to fight climate change and other environmental degradation. We call the group “Earth Future” with the mission: To promote climate- and earth-friendly action by individuals, the parish, and our governments that will sustain life on earth through education and practice. Note that the mission is to promote action, not just education.

We were offered an audience at the evening suppers during Lent. That means we need to plan for six weeks of program material. So I sought a curriculum, with moderate success. (Most of the curriculum material is for school children, not limited by six sessions each less than an hour!) Here is what I thought:

Curriculum

Effective policy related to climate change education requires not only a commitment to teach and learn but a commitment to act. Research has shown that knowledge alone is insufficient for societies to change behavior. 

• Target adult and senior learners for climate literacy and building action competence with regard to climate change.

• Emphasize action competence, not just knowledge

Comprehensive education focused on adapting to climate change targeting those over 65 will be especially relevant, given that more seniors live in regions especially vulnerable to a changing climate. Educating seniors on the issue is not only strategic, but capitalists on their capacity as agents of change within their own generations and communities.

Research shows that climate education can help reduce emissions as much as our best technological innovations, while also reducing people’s vulnerabilities to acute and chronic environmental hazards. This is especially important for low-income communities and communities of color where structural inequities have magnified the social, health, and economic risks and effects of climate change.

Climate Literacy

The ultimate goal of climate change education is to cultivate students capable of using knowledge for changing environmentally unsustainable behaviors or learning new adaptive behaviors. Curricular content must include components focusing on mitigation and adaption options at both the individual and systems level. 

While the natural sciences and geography often teach the causes of climate change, citizenship education has great potential for cultivating agents of change who not only envision, but also enact solutions to climate change. Citizenship education not only includes but also goes beyond the political–legal framework and involves the development of an ethos of shared rights and responsibilities, taking group decision-making, identity, diversity, justice and equity into account. An understanding of climate change and the link between the natural environment and civic institutions should be a crucial component of the curriculum.

Objectives

Students will be able to identify:

• What is climate change?

• What is responsible for climate change and how do we know?

• Why does climate change matter?

• What can we do?

• Be able to use data and evidence to justify claims relating to climate, climate change, and mitigation.

Bibliography

Climate Change Education: From Critical Thinking to Critical Action, United Nations University Policy Brief No. 4, 2016. https://i.unu.edu/media/ias.unu.edu-en/news/13437/UNU-IAS-PB-4-8FEB-online-version.pdf 

The Science and Policy of Global Climate Change Curriculum Unit Stanford Climate Change Education Project  https://earth.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/inline-files/_Introduction%20to%20the%20Curriculum_HS.pdf  Lesson Plan https://earth.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/inline-files/_Whole%20Lesson%20Plans%20HS.pdf

Climate change and older Americans: state of the science, Environmental Health Perspectives 2013 Jan;121(1):15-22 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3553435/

Climate Change Religious Education Curriculum Unitarian Universalist Association. https://www.uua.org/environment/climate/curriculum Note: This is learning about, not action-oriented.